Saturday’s EMass Div. 2 Super Bowl takes on added meaning for eight seniors on Duxbury High’s unbeaten football team. They all will drop the sport in college in order to play Division 1 lacrosse.

By Eric McHugh

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Eric McHugh

Posted Dec. 2, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 2, 2011 at 2:04 AM

By Eric McHugh

Posted Dec. 2, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 2, 2011 at 2:04 AM

» Social News

So, what will you miss about football?

“Everything,” Duxbury High senior quarterback Matt O’Keefe said. “The preparation during the week, getting ready for the opponent, setting the game plan. I’m going to miss the Fridays and Saturdays going out with your best friends and giving it everything you have.”

On Saturday at Gillette Stadium it will be bright afternoon sunshine at the start, giving way to creeping darkness for the Green Dragons’ EMass Division 2 Super Bowl against Tewksbury (3:30 p.m., Ch. 38).

Every senior on both teams will be experiencing his high school football swan song. The fact that so many of Duxbury’s departing stars are giving up the sport in favor of lacrosse in college will make the twilight even more bittersweet.

“I can’t really imagine life without football,” said defensive end Seamus Connelly, who is ticketed for Duke as an attackman.

In all, eight Green Dragons are moving on to Division 1 college lacrosse programs. Big ones, too, such as Johns Hopkins (O’Keefe), Duke (Connelly) and Syracuse (outside linebacker Jay McDermott). Those three schools have combined for 21 NCAA titles.

Linebacker Max Randall (Dartmouth) and Naton (Yale) are bound for the Ivy League. Safety/receiver James Burke (Penn State) and receiver Andrew Buron (Stony Brook) will be midfielders at the next level, while running back Henry Buonagurio hopes a back injury heals in time to let him play goalie for Drexel.

It’s like a lacrosse cult.

“Yeah, seriously,” Naton said with a laugh. “It’s unheard of, especially for a town of this size.”

“It’s kind of normal for us,” Buonagurio said. “I’m sure it’s odd for other teams to see that we have so many D1 recruits. We knew from almost freshman year that some of the kids were going big-time lacrosse.”

For some, the football/lacrosse dilemma was an easy call. Connelly said he “knew where my heart was” when it came to choosing. McDermott, who described himself as “more of a natural lacrosse player,” said he fell in love with Syracuse when he visited the campus. Even Buonagurio, who calls football his “passion,” decided he was too small to seriously pursue the game at the next level.

Others were more conflicted.

O’Keefe is 6-4 and possesses a skill set that could translate nicely to the college game. Yet he committed early to Johns Hopkins (he’s a dynamic close defender) and hasn’t wavered during a senior season in which his 32 touchdown passes have piqued a lot of interest.

“A lot of schools did come calling,” O’Keefe said. “Coach (Dave) Maimaron was always up front with what he thought I should do. He was always putting my name out there (for college football coaches), but he knew that it came down to my decision and I decided that I wanted to play lacrosse, and I’m excited about that.”

Page 2 of 2 - It goes without saying that the two sports are different, but let Randall explain it anyway. “Football is more organized,” he said. “You do a play, you set back up, do a play, set back up. Lacrosse is more like water; football is kind of like ice.”

Still, there are enough similarities, both technically (“Footwork and speed and being physical, it relates back and forth,” McDermott noted) and chemistry-wise. “Playing together (in both sports) has gotten us to the next level,” Naton declared.

Chris Sweet’s lacrosse program is a juggernaut with eight state championships in the last 10 years. Maimaron’s football program is no slouch, either. The Green Dragons (12-0) are seeking their fourth 13-0 campaign since 2005.

It seems that great lacrosse players make great football players. And vice versa.

“We scheme our football program around those type of athletes, offensively and defensively,” Maimaron said. “We just try to get the best athletes on the field. Those usually end up being lacrosse players, although we’ve had our share of baseball players that have really helped us, too.”

Maimaron believes that his Ivy Leaguers might “get the bug” for football again in college and try to play both sports. Still, it appears that when the clock hits 0:00 on Saturday it will represent a real closure for some of the brightest football lights Duxbury has ever seen.

All they can do is try to make sure that their final memory is a good one.

“It’s going to be a very special game,” Naton said. “We’re all going to cherish it, take it play by play as if it’s our last play every time ... We’ll play lacrosse together in the spring (but in football) there’s one way we want to go out – on top.”